36,8
by VisualIDentificationZeta
Summary: HarmSkates, other canon pairings; SUMMARY: "So... I uh... I understand you jumped my bones in sickbay."
1. Chapter 1

TITLE: 36.8

AUTHOR: VIDZ

PAIRING: Harm/Skates

TIMELINE: Adrift II

DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc of the TV show JAG are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this fic. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: yeah, okay, so it's another Harm/Skates fic, what can I do about it... *shrug* The thing is, that ep is so rich with potentials for HS ship that it just can't be ignored. It was fantastic, but unfortunately just too much Mac in it for me to love it completely. Hell, if I didn't know better and would be watching the show for the first time, I'd think Harm and Skates are a couple considering the emotions she showed and the way she tried to wake him up. I rewatched the ep for this fic (well, except for the scenes with Mac...blek... she annoys me perhaps even more than she did before) so I could write it more accurately and tie in as precisely as I could into it. Even though I never was and never will be a fan of Brumby, the man made a couple pretty smart and accurate observations of Mac in that ep.

36.8 degrees Celsius is the average healthy body core temperature of a human.

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What I love most about that ep was that Harm came back from the near-dead for BETH, because BETH pleaded him to and NOT for Mac.

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HEADS UP:::::::: the UNDERSTROKED TEXT is a direct and accurate transcript of the episode, meaning it was really said on the show. The first chapter is actually a written version of that scene, fully and completely truthful and accurate. Get now what I meant with this fic having so many potential for Harm/Skates ship?

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SUMMARY: "So... I uh... I understand you jumped my bones in sickbay."

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"We got a diminishing pulse here." reported the medic.

The doctor shook Harm, trying to get him to wake up "Commander! Come on, stay with me!"

His attempts failed though as Harm remained unconscious.

"Respiration is falling fast." said the nurse.

The doctor was beginning to feel despair "We're out of options."

Beth stands up with difficulty from the chair she was sitting, watching them trying to save her partner "Can I try, doctor? He knows me."

She rose painfully from her seat behind a cart with medical supplies and sighed in relief upon seeing the doctor nod in agreement.

"Get him talking."

The injured RIO shuffled over to the bed, calling out to her friend as she did so "Harm." the nurse extended her hand to Beth to support her. Beth leaned against the bed and took the pilot's cold hand into her own warmer one "Harm." she repeated trying to wake him up.

Desperation began clawing at her throat and she barely held in tears as she pleaded this man, this so important to her man, to wake up "Harm, it's cold down here. And I need you. I can't do it by myself." she held his hand, rubbing it to warm it up and pressed it against her chest so he could feel her heart beat and warmth. Leaning close over his face she pleaded fiercely, trying to make Harm think she was drowning so his deep-seated need to protect her would wake him up "Help me, Harm, come on, you promised. You promised you'd be there. I'm holding you to that." she couldn't stop the tears from clogging her throat and showing in her voice "You know I don't swim well."

The doctor looked at the instruments, worry evident as he silently pressed Beth to try harder "The temperature's still dropping."

Knowing time was getting short Beth switch tact "Commander, can you hear me?!" she yelled. Suddenly an idea hit her and she pointed at Harm's oxygen face mask.

"Get that thing off. Take it off." she cried.

A nurse immediately reacted and removed the mask. Skates leaned down on his chest, supporting her body on his own, as she breathed heavily, trying to keep her composure, nearly crying. Pressing her cheek to his she rubbed against it, then raised her head, leaning her chin on his, their lower lips touching. She didn't know and right then wouldn't even care, but those were the exact movements some animal species do to mark their mate or to receive comfort from them.

"Save me." she breathed against his half-open mouth, as if trying to breathe life into him, ignoring just how strongly intimate the scene was, how quickly anyone could get the wrong idea.

Everyone was standing by, watching as Beth fought for Harm's life, machines beeping. Harm's temperature had fallen beneath 30 degrees Celsius and they were all too aware only a miracle could save him now.

But then his eyes fluttered and he tried to talk, tears finally breaking free and running down Beth's cheeks as everyone else just gaped in shock. Only an unintelligible mumble came out, but then he tried again.

"Honey."

"Pulse rate's up." an excited nurse reported.

"Don't let go." Beth whispered, their chins touching and her eyes searching his face as if trying to memorize his dear features "Don't let go." she repeated, joy and tears thickening her voice.

Then she saw the most beautiful sight, one she'd feared she'd never see again, as Harm's eyes opened and unfocused aquamarine orbs stared back at her "Hi."

"Hi yourself." she grinned, nodding "Keep talking to me."

His exhaustion was obvious as he tried to talk, but managed only a syllable at a time "I. Can't. Breathe."

"Oh!" her eyes widened in surprise and she blushed in embarrassment "Uh. I'm sorry." she got up with difficulty, the nurse squeezing her hand in congratulations.

Harm turned his head to keep her in his sight and hoarsely asked a question that had been nagging at him ever since he'd come back to the real world only to see her lovely, though battered, face hovering above him as she pled for him not to leave her "Have we dated?"

She said nothing, just laughed shakily, pain blossoming in her heart as she desperately wished she could reply affirmatively to his query.

Seeing his patient was on track to recovery and was falling asleep again the doctor ordered "Oxygen."

The nurse put the oxygen mask back over Harm's nose and mouth as Beth, crying in relief and happiness, extended a hand to caress his cool cheek. Fat tears rolling down her face she whispered "You're gonna be okay." as she silently acknowledged that if he hadn't come back for her _she _would never have been okay again.

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	2. Chapter 2

You know the world is getting crazier and weirder when a woman is threatened with jail just because she's a screamer in bed... And, yeah, I know it's badly off-topic for a fic, but...

I apologize in advance for any medical inconsistencies in this chapter, the only medical training I've ever undergone was first aid and that was AGES ago, and research can only get you so far...

Huge thanks to my reviewers, **jojobevco, Lynnp, Vesja, Michi uk, starryeyes12, carolfd, Rittanicus **and **zeilfanaat.**

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The next half hour went by in a blur as the medical team tended to Harm's other injuries.

Once they were done they moved Harm into his own private room, Beth observing as they settled him in, still dressed in nothing but her white robe. A nurse had been kind enough to get her some generic boxers out of the sickbay store, but since this was a naval vessel they had no bras on hand. Beth had to make do with an old tank-top another female crew-member had given her.

Right now she was feeling the loss of all of her clothes and other gear more than ever. With the plane going down she had also lost her bag with everything in it, but at least she and Harm were still alive. Most of the warmth the robe gave her was stolen by the cool air inside the ship that crawled up from the ground to inside her robe, a situation made worse by the fact that the slightly too big boxers afforded the air access to parts of her that she would've rather had warm than cold.

Noticing her standing in the corner, contemplating things and keeping a sharp eye on the staff handling her pilot, the doctor turned to Beth and explained.

"What we're gonna do next is get his core temperature up. Blankets aren't really the preferred choice in hypothermia cases, but we really don't have any other option since his current core temp is still critical, he's still in danger."

"What _is_ the preferred option, sir?" Beth felt a little dumb for asking that considering she knew the answer, but her tongue had run away with her before she'd managed to catch it and pin it down.

"Body heat, Lieutenant. It's perfect because it's warmer than blankets and contrary to water doesn't do any damage to the victim. When you're warming a hypothermia victim what you use mustn't be warmer than average human body temp. Body heat is also great because with it's own already-correctly set temperature it will regulate and adjust the victim's to the correct temperature."

Beth looked at him baffled "Then, if it's so great, why don't any of you warm him up that way?"

The doctor looked uncomfortable "Because we have normal and heating blankets we can use."

Something he had already said was not as effective as body heat...

In the end, looking at him fidgeting and not able to meet her eyes, Beth suspected the large majority of medical personnel everywhere rather used blankets because the thought of cuddling with a stranger probably made them too uncomfortable, so very few of them would be willing to share body heat even if it was an emergency, especially if the victim was male. Thus they would stick to blankets (regular and electric) even if the patient was critical and needed his temp raised immediately.

Beth bit her lip, her mind working feverishly. There was really too little time for such a momentous decision, but it was all she had. The doctor had just nodded at her and was moving away when she made up her mind and stopped him cold with her words.

"What if I do it?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"You said yourself he needs to get his temp up fast and that that's the best way. I can do it."

He looked at her doubtfully "You sure about this?"

Her mind set on it now, she nodded.

"Okay, I don't see why not." he nodded in return, already planning the execution of the plan "We'll just finish getting him settled, then I'll clear everyone out."

Beth nodded and slowly shuffled to the chair standing by the bulkhead, lowering herself down on it as she intended to watch them work.

The next thing she knew she was being shaken awake. With effort she opened her tired eyes and blinked a couple of times to get them to focus on the officer standing in front of her.

"We're done, now it's your turn, if you're really sure about this." it took Beth a second to remember what he meant, then she nodded and yawned. Satisfied with her answer he continued "We gave him something to let him sleep and heal, so he'll be out for at least the next 8 hours."

Beth moved to get up, something the LCDR immediately assisted her with. As soon as she was up her gaze sought out her pilot while the doctor gave her a few last pointers and assurances.

"Don't worry, LT, the cameras are turned off and you can secure the hatch. No-one will find out about this and, even if they do, what you're doing falls under the providing-medical-treatment article and I'm even ready to say this in court. Don't worry about anything, just do your thing." with an unexpectedly gentle, understanding smile the doctor left the room.

Elizabeth followed him to the bulkhead then secured the hatch after he stepped through it. Then she turned around, her heart still in turmoil while her head was calling her an idiot, telling her Harm's life was more important than any conflicted feelings she was experiencing.

She moved to stand in front of Harm's bed, looking down at the shivering man before her with a thoughtful expression on her lovely, but bruised face.

' Which side is more sensitive to warmth? Which is better?'

The she almost slapped herself for being stupid, for having to think about it, but the fact was that constant worry for Harm and sheer exhaustion were why her brain was working much slower than usual.

' Of course it's the front! '

Taking a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for what she was about to do and the chill of Harm's body she knew she'd feel everywhere, she closed her eyes to try to calm her nerves.

When she was sure she was sufficiently in control of herself she quickly stripped off her thick robe, leaving her in only a tank-top and boxers, lifted the blanket on the other side of the bed and slowly slipped into it. Harm was lying on his back, the position medical staff usually put patients in, so Beth crawled over him and gently lowered herself onto his body, front to front. The shocking coldness of his form sent a fierce shiver through her and her jaws began clacking together against her will. She'd known he'd be cold, but she'd had no idea he'd be _this _cold. It was a wonder he was even still alive and Beth's already high admiration and respect for him raised a couple more notches. He'd come back from the grave and he'd done that just for her. This man was a fighter, through and through.

Over the next fifteen minutes she tried to settle into a comfortable position, but couldn't find any, her body aching too much. She was sprawled over him in a mocking of a post-coital embrace and while she would normally be laying half on him, with one leg anchored between his to hold her in place, and half off, in a comfortable position, she just couldn't get comfortable laying on him chest on chest. His body was too hard, there were too many grooves and dips and small valleys in his chest and abdomen from the muscles and bones immediately behind them, her hip was starting to hurt because her body was too straight. With her chest set on his own that became increasingly wider as it neared his shoulders her back was even bent backwards to some degree because of her ample breasts, making it even more painful.

That wasn't the only problem, however. The problem was that this position wasn't doing him much favor either. From how much of him was still exposed, his chest was namely a lot wider than she was so she couldn't cover all of it and his arms were laying limply by his sides, she had a pretty good idea this wasn't the most efficient position.

Wiping away the tears of frustration she refused to give up. Harm's temperature had to go up ASAP and she was his only chance. Suddenly inspiration struck her... there's one position where a man practically wraps himself around the woman and where the largest percentage of his skin is in contact with her and that would be the best way for her to warm him up.

Backing away from Harm Elizabeth grabbed him on the far side and tried to roll him on his side closest to her, grunting painfully at the added strain on her already hurting body. By the time she'd accomplished this she was panting and sweaty, not having expected him to be so heavy. Then she asked herself what had she actually expected what with Harm being so big and so packed with muscles. Her body was vibrating from exhaustion, her arms felt like they were made of jello, she was even slightly nauseous from working so hard after a crash and that on an empty stomach, manhandling such a large man on top of the previous stiffness from their ordeal. Wincing, she looked down at her sweat-soaked borrowed underwear and first pulled her tank-top away from her body, followed by her panties, yet as soon as she let go of them the cotton immediately resumed clinging to her skin, driving her to distraction with the unpleasant feeling it caused. Biting her lower lip nervously in indecision she crouched over him, observing him.

Should she really do it? She knew wet clothes stole body heat and as long as she was wearing them she would be feeling increasingly cooler. Clothes also act as isolation, trapping heat close to your body, not letting any away easily, a non-favorable side-effect when you're trying to warm up another person. As long as she was wearing these clothes, especially with how wet they were, she wouldn't be doing Harm much of a favor and would be giving him a lot less heat than her body was producing.

The fact that when you're trying to warm up a hypothermic person skin-to-skin contact is the only efficient way and that any cloth between the two people will work against the purpose was something she'd known even when she'd made the decision to help him, but had denied to herself, reasoning she could do it and conserve their dignity at the same time. Yet now it'd been proven that she'd been just deluding herself, that she couldn't do it as she'd originally believed, that she'd need to shed her clothes.

Sighing, she gave in to the inevitable. Deliberately she pulled the tank top over her head, then slipped the boxers from her body and threw them onto the chair where they joined her robe. She felt her nipples tighten to hard peaks in the cool air as she turned back to the man for whom she was doing all this. Surveying his body for a quick second she knew there was no way in hell she'd strip him too. His boxers were dry and they were needed to keep their embarrassment to at least a manageable level. And as long as there was something between their compatible intimate parts she wouldn't be tempted to take advantage of him and of the situation and do something she'd been wanting to ever since she'd first laid her eyes on this gorgeous hunk of man.

Lowering herself onto her side to face away from Harm she carefully scooted backwards until she bumped into his body. Reaching behind herself she searched out his arm and then pulled it over herself and down on her stomach where she placed her own arm and hand over his to keep his warm. Shivering again at the coldness of his body she nonetheless backed even more into him as she pressed his hand harder into her warm abdomen. It was hard work ignoring it's presence on her body, so close to her breasts and to the apex of her thighs, but she tried her best. Gritting her teeth she momentarily called herself a fool for getting completely naked, but by now it was too late. Even if it wasn't too late she wasn't sure she'd do anything differently because all the reasons why she'd stripped were still valid.

Settling her tired head onto his bent elbow she sighed, trying to relax and ignore the fact that they were spooning. As opposed to their previous position they now _were_ in a lover's embrace, especially since she could clearly feel something stirring and growing against her butt.

Rolling her eyes she just shook her head on an exasperated, yet fond sigh. He was unconscious, barely alive, broken, hypothermic, could barely breathe with all that ocean water in his lungs, and even with all he'd gone through he was still locked and loaded, ready for sex. Even with being half-dead a man was still fully capable of impregnating a female in case he was the only male on the planet left and was seriously hurt. Nature truly was amazing, the lengths it went to to insure the continuation of a species.

She just hoped, with everything she had in her, that Harm wouldn't wake up anytime soon. She was sure she wouldn't survive her embarrassment otherwise.

With a small sigh she felt herself melt into him as sleep pulled her under, wishing she could go to sleep like that every day for the rest of her life.

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	3. Chapter 3

Ff. net is at times moodier than what a pregnant Mac would be, rolls eyes. The alert system was again down for a few days, thankfully it's up again because otherwise you wouldn't be getting this chapter today.

Okay, here it is. There's been plenty of speculation over what will happen next and I really hope no-one thought of this * evil chuckle *

**carolfd:** I think you'll find my version even more evil, * diabolical laugh *

**anon:** hey, great to read you again, it's been a long time! How have you been?

Huge thanks to my reviewers, **Sarai, jojobevco, starryeyes12, Rittanicus, Vesja, carolfd, anon, tkdmom51, Michi uk **and of course **Lynnp.**

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After a fairly restless sleep, that for some strange reason left her refreshed and her entire body tingling in pleasure, Beth's eyes fluttered as consciousness slowly returned to her, bringing with it the memories of the previous few hours. Yawning, she checked her watch to find out she'd slept for six hours.

Cuddling deeper into the warm bed she pulled the sheet and blankets back up to her chin, her eyelids already drooping. As she began to drift off she tried to remember when she'd been last this comfortable and this warm, not to mention so refreshed and filled with energy after a sleep. Unconsciously cuddling deeper into the body behind her she guided the large hand to her intimate flesh, wanting the connection such a touch would provide.

Hold on!

Large hand?

Beth froze in her spot, suddenly not sleepy anymore.

Cautiously she checked. Yup, there was the large, hairy, inerrably male arm wrapped around her waist, the arm who's hand she'd led to her breast.

Her brain finally engaging fully she surmissed that the delicious heat behind her back was a hard male body.

It was then that she realized the enormity of the situation: her back was actually being heated! Her head snapped up, whipping around to look at Harm, forgetting everything about the situation she'd put them in. To her immense relief she discovered he finally had a peaceful expression on his face and his skin had a healthy tinge to it. Okay, so not completely healthy, but at least it was the this-is-a-living-body kind of tinge. If her back had anything to say about it he'd regained his core body temperature, making her sag in relief. Tears of happiness, relief and released stress sprung to her eyes and she impatiently wiped them away as she cursed herself for being too emotional.

Knowing she'd achieved her goal and that she should quit while she was still ahead, meaning before Harm woke up and found here there, naked and pressed so intimately against him, she moved to get out of the bed, get dressed and call the doctor, when she finally realized something wasn't right. When she'd moved away from him she'd felt something slither out of her, something that shouldn't have been where it had been.

Looked down her body her eyes widened in horror. Somehow during the night the hardon she'd felt against her ass had wormed it's way out of his boxers and, considering his size, she wasn't really surprised at that because the boxers he'd been given were too tight for him and his erection had to go outside since it didn't have enough space in his underwear.

What had stopped her heart wasn't that, however, because while that was certainly embarrassing it wasn't heart-stopping. The problem was that not only had Willy gotten free, but it was the reason for her _very _nice and very erotic dreams. While they'd slept their subconscious had correctly identified their situation and the animal instincts that govern humans especially strongly in sleep had taken over their bodies, doing what nature desires of a man and a woman, not blood related and attracted to each other, when they're naked in bed together. What should've been safely stored inside Harm's underwear was now resting even more safely between her legs, where she could feel it pulse in time with his heart as her thighs had it in a vise grip, pressing against her most intimate flesh where he'd been hidden until a few seconds ago. Together with all the other evidence, her sore inside muscles, stickiness on and between her thighs and leaking slowly out of her, there was no doubt in her mind as to what they had gotten up to during their slumber.

Oh. My. God.

She and Harm had had sex.

This was ridiculous! She'd heard of people speaking and walking in their sleep, even driving and committing murders without their knowing, but having sex?

But no matter how much she ranted against it's possibility it didn't change the fact that they _had _ had sex, that Harm had unknowingly cheated on his girlfriend with her, and that they'd committed a courts-martialable offense. If anyone was ever to find out they'd both be thrown out of the Navy in disgrace.

For months she'd done everything with this man: fought, flown, bled, drowned, talked, walked, ran, cried, laughed, sung, cheered, dreamed, read, rejoyced, ate, drank, exercised,... and now slept and had sex. Neither of them deserved losing what was so important to them on account of something they didn't even remember, much less had wanted to do. No, no-one would ever find out, not even Harm himself, but even though she couldn't remember it she would treasure it forever, they had now shared each other completely as only very few couples in the world have.

Pulling away from him fully she shivered as the sudden cold assaulted her where she'd been just a second ago nicely warmed by her human furnace of a pilot.

Getting out of the bed she cleaned herself up quickly, then did the same to him, trying to ignore what an intimate gesture that was. While sex can be and is often impersonal, a physical labor with the only goal to reduce stress and the amount of hormones and fluids, doing this for your partner after the fact is not something anyone except for true lovers do, certainly not some shallow strangers who'd picked each other up in some dingy bar.

Putting him gently back into his boxers and making him presentable, or at least good enough to pass the medical check-up he was no doubt in for, she got dressed herself.

Doing that she discovered her decision to help him hadn't had positive effects on Harm only for she was much less stiff and sore than she'd been before she'd wrapped him around herself. As Harm had taken heat from her he'd later given it back, in spades. He was a large man in excellent shape, with a fantastic cardio-vascular system, so optimum blood circulation was nothing strange to him and with such a good blood circulation came body heat.

Harm had been wrapped around Beth, had almost completely enveloped her, for hours and the heat he'd given off had soothed her aches, sores and paines.

A glance at the monitors confirmed what she'd been suspecting from the first second she'd felt his body. His core temperature was back to normal, to how it should be.

Remembering those terrifying hours they'd searched fruitlessly for him, her heart breaking with report after report coming back negative and when they'd found him only to see him lying so pale, so... lifeless on that bed, followed by her desperate fight to get _him_ to fight for his life,... After all that, knowing, seeing, he was alive and on the road back to recovery, made _everything _worth it.

Making sure everything was as it should be Beth moved to the door. Opening it she caught sight of the medic and told him to call the doctor.

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It didn't take long for the young LCDR to show up and the first thing he did was to check the monitors, followed by checking Harm's pulse and body temperature manually. When he finally turned back to Beth, to quickly check on her too, he was pleased with both.

"Great work, Lieutenant." the doctor congratulated her "You really did the CDR a great service."

Beth gulped, for a moment of panic thinking he knew exactly how much of her and Harm's skin had been in contact, then called herself a fool. The hatch had been secured, there was no way the doctor could know about anything that had happened.

Forcing a smile on her lips Beth nodded, her throat still too clogged to say anything

Knowing she had plenty of time before Harm woke up Beth slowly left the sickbay and made her way towards her former stateroom, knowing her bunk hadn't been filled yet. It was morning, the ship was full of it's crew moving about, so it took Beth a while to get there, garnering a lot of curious and surprised looks along the way. She was almost to safety when the rest of the squadron jumped her.

Barely fending off questions she managed to make her way through them and slammed the hatch behind herself, leaning against it in relief.

Gratified to see another pair of underwear and a fresh flight suit waiting on her old bed Beth took advantage of the situation and had a good, long shower to get rid of the last kinks in her body.

There would be plenty of time for going back to Harm's bedside where she would wait for him to wake up again, to make sure he was alright, to be debriefed and give their reports on what had happened, for everything, but now was her own time.

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	4. Chapter 4

Yes, I know I'm a bastard for not updating for so long, but that's why I'm updating with an extra long chapter. Am I forgiven?

Believe it or not, but sleep sex is actually real. It's called sexsomnia. And the part about people driving cars and murdering people while sleep-walking is real too, took it from a documentary I saw a couple of years ago.

That begs the question (at least for me): if they're REALLY sleep-walking (and not lying about having been asleep, hence making up alibis) why can't they do something productive in their sleep, like clean the house, BUILD a house, mow the grass, change the oil in the car, cook breakfast, etc.? I'm just sayin'...

As always huge thanks for their reviews to **just4paws17, jojobevco, Vesja, starryeyes12, carolfd, Leigh, Lynnp, tkdmom51 **and **Michi uk** without who's encouragement I wouldn't have any motivation to continue writing and posting.

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24 hours later, after a night spent in a bed by herself, the bed that for some reason had felt terribly big and empty, Beth got out of a hot shower, her body feeling mostly all to normal, and wiped the condensation off the mirror.

The bruises on her face had turned yellow and were slowly fading, she noted with satisfaction, the last thing she wanted was to look like a beaten wife. During her shower she'd discovered the rest of the contusions on her body were in the same stage and it filled her with relief. The sooner her life got back to normal the better. Now, if she could only get rid of flashbacks of her dreams from the previous morning, dreams she was now sure had been created by her and Harm unconscious nocturnal extracurricular activities to account for the physical sensations of ecstasy from the sex her body had been engaged in. Okay, so she wasn't a stranger to erotic dreams, but these were made disconcerting by the fact that they were based in reality, on real-life occurrences.

She couldn't help it, but the way she looked at her pilot had changed due to what they'd done, no matter how much she tried to repress those feelings. Since she wasn't the type of person who could have sex with a stranger she could feel new kinds of emotions and new bonds binding her to the man she trusted with everything she was and owned.

It was like they were two objects, levitating next to each other, or even alongside floating beside each other on the ocean, and instead of there being only one rope connecting them together, like it had been until now - the rope of their friendship and teamwork, there was now a multitude of new ropes, tying them even more securely together, insuring any final parting would not only be extremely hurting, but also require a great deal of effort to cut through all those bonds.

Unfortunately for those cords however was that Beth was planning on making them disappear by ignoring them. So she'd had sex with her pilot, so what... It wasn't like they could do anything about...

Besides... Harm obviously belonged to another woman and it wasn't Beth's right to want him for herself. Beth would, as she'd done until now, respect that and continue living without him, even though the thoughts of what-if would be even more regular now. But that was life and in life you don't always get what you want. Actually, you get what you want very rarely.

In a little over an hour she and Harm would be flown back to the mainland, Andrews AFB, on a COD and then shipped directly to National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland by helicopter.

Pulling on the flight suit she efficiently packed the new travel bag and gear she'd been assigned new by the quartermaster. The new uniform didn't have any of her fruit salad, but at least it had her rank.

With the bag over her shoulder she left the stateroom, heading for the sickbay. As she made her way through the corridors she couldn't help but remember the same walk she'd made a day previously, how nervous she'd been.

Her anxiety hadn't been lessened when upon arriving to Harm's room she'd found him still sleeping. The following half hour had been torture as she'd waited for Harm to return to the land of the conscious. She really should feel guilty for being happy Harm had a mild amnesia, but she just didn't have it in her right then, the relief he didn't know about the night's event was simply too strong. She'd then spent with him as much time as she could without attracting unwanted attention and speculation.

After that her day had been spent with debriefings, medical check-ups, requisitioning new gear, from toothbrushes to uniforms as everything had been lost with the Tomcat. By the time she'd returned to her stateroom she'd been drained, mentally and physically, and the only thing she wished was for the freedom to go to sickbay, crawl into Harm's bed and fall asleep in his strong arms, feeling as safe as only he could make her feel. Instead she'd spent the night in her own rack, trying to ignore LT Julie Dawson's, her room-mate's, snoring.

Shaking off the memories of the previous day she entered her partner's room quietly in case he was still asleep. She should've known better, though, because he was already awake and blinking around hazily. Even though he'd been awake several times after his return from the dead he was still as weak as a kitten from having almost drowned in the ocean, hit by several-ton waves, inhaling salt-water, vomiting from heavy-wave-induced sea-sickness, being hypothermic and then almost dying in sickbay. She'd been rescued a lot sooner than he and she was still moving around like an arthritic geriatric.

"Hey." she whispered softly as she neared his bed, depositing her gear on the floor beside it.

"Hey." the tired smile on his face was more precious than had he called her the love of his life. He was alive and that was the most important thing in the world.

She still got the shivers and the urge to cry whenever she remembered how close he'd been to dying, how close she'd come to losing him.

"How are you feelin'?"

The urge to gently stroke his cheek was so strong she had to grip her arm to stop herself.

"Oh, you know... like I went 10 rounds with an aircraft carrier."

"And who won?" she played along, eliciting a smile from him.

"Right now it's a draw."

That brought out a chuckle from her and she settled down in the chair next to his bed, content on spending the next hour by his bedside.

When the medics came with his stretcher she almost groaned at having their private time cut, for she knew that once they got back stateside they would no longer have any time together.

Besides, while he was still down and not well enough to really take in what she was doing and that it was going over the line set for mere shipmates, she could take a tiny advantage of his situation and fuss over him with carefully measured amounts of TLC. Small enough she could get away with and large enough so she indulged her pressing need to fuss. Damn the man for making her care for him so much. Had she not cared for him she wouldn't have been so worried about him and wanting to personally take care of him.

Why couldn't she have gotten a female pilot instead of him? Then there wouldn't have been any danger of committing something the armed forces considered one of the worst crimes: falling for your team-mate. Oh, yeah, she _had _had a female pilot, but the woman had killed herself and had almost killed Beth in a stupid stunt sponsored by a feminist Congresswoman. So, no, she didn't really have any warm feelings for her. Some people, men and women, should really know their personal limitations and acknowledge their weaknesses, instead of blaming others and/or screaming discrimination. That ramp strike had been the thing to open Beth's eyes to her own mortality. to the fragility and vulnerability of the human body in general and to the fact that life is short and you should live each day as if it's your last. Because it can very well be.

Moving away from the bed so the medics could transfer Harm to the stretcher, she stretched with a wince and grabbed her back, then followed them.

As they came up on the deck they were surprised to see their entire squadron waiting for them, lining the path to the COD.

Making their way through them, accepting their well-wishes and promises to check up on them when the boat finished it's patrol, Harm, Beth and the medics finally boarded the COD where Harm's stretcher was locked in the pre-prepped holds. Beth took a seat on one side of her pilot while the one medic assigned to their care for the flight sat down on the other side.

Talk during the flight was practically impossible because of the loud drone of the COD's turbo-prop engines, since Harm wasn't really in the mood for screaming into the microphone that came with the headphones.

After the medic was done checking on Harm and got involved in a talk, Beth took advantage of the man's distraction and slipper her hand into Harm's. Harm gave her a puzzled, thoughtful look, but not only didn't pull his hand back but even slightly squeezed hers. This contact that gave her such a reassurance and satisfaction was all too brief as the medic had finished his talk and turned back to his charge, prompting Beth to pull back her hand.

The rest of the flight was spent trying to catch some sleep in the very uncomfortable aluminium seats, while strapped in tight, and musing about whatever came to mind.

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	5. Chapter 5

Did anyone notice that the chopper pilot who rescued Harm and was then talking to him and Beth in Bethesda, a Commander Loftness, is the same guy who starred in that old, 80's scifi movie The Last Starfighter?

If Mac ending up in the rain alone, after playing fast with high stakes (meaning, people's hearts) so carelessly, isn't cosmic justice then I don' t know what is.

As always, my thanks to the lovely people who reviewed, namely **Lynnp, Vesja, jojobevco, just4paws17, anon, tkdmom51 **and **Michi UK**, may they be role models and inspiration to the rest of you.

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Setting down at Andrews AFB and being transported to Bethesda went by in a blur for Beth, who was by now tired, achy and, admittedly, pretty damn cranky. The seats in military transports were pure torture devices worse than the Iron Maiden.

When they arrived at Bethesda she and Harm were separated to undergo a long chain of check-ups, exams and debriefings once again. The ocean was much gentler than the military health care, much less the bean-counters and other bureaucrats. Even though she knew it had been only mute support for a friend and nothing more for him, her hand tingled warmly from Harm's gentle squeeze and it was the thing that helped her get through those dreary hours.

When she was finally released she made her way to Harm's room, a little disappointed to see him asleep.

She sat next to his bed, too afraid to be found out to take his hand again. Instead she quietly sat there, counting how many breaths he took, for about an hour before the door opened with force.

The intruder was blond, tall and very thin, the supermodel kind of thin, while her bosom was far from the kind supermodels have, as in very generous, yet too large to be natural Beth not failing to notice. From her hair, clothes, a personal trainer and plastic surgeries, the woman had plenty of money so Beth had no problem identifying her as Renee Peterson, Harm's girlfriend.

"Harm!" the other woman exclaimed, tears evident in her voice, completely overseeing the small, battered officer sitting next to her boyfriend's bed.

Knowing her time here was up, that it wasn't she who had the right and pleasurable duty to worry for Harm and take care of him, Beth rose from the chair she was sitting in, making room for Renee.

She still couldn't help the flash of fierce territoriality as Renee rushed to Harm's bed, sleepless hours and worry written all over the blonde's otherwise pretty face. Beth knew she didn't have the right, didn't have any hold on him, even with everything they'd gone through together. Harm hadn't chosen her, he'd chosen this woman and even though Beth intellectually knew Renee had to have some redeeming qualities for Harm to like her, much less spend more than a year with her, she was feeling too raw to deal with the woman who had what Beth wanted.

A sad sigh escape her as her shoulder drooped and she backed away to make an exit when she bumped into a rolling tray. The resulting noise got Renee's attention and her head shot up to look for the intruder, her eyes zeroing on Beth.

Almost immediately recognition dawned in Renee's eyes, something that seemed strange to Beth. Why would Harm's girlfriend, who'd never met her, know her by sight?

"Lieutenant... Skates?" Renee asked tentatively and Beth couldn't help the snigger. Oh, Renee was civilian alright... had confused callsigns and family names.

Well, the other woman was waiting for an answer... "Yes, Miss Petersen." at Renee's suprised look she explained "Harm talks."

"There's a photo of the two of you in his apartment and I've heard a lot about you too." explained Renee and wiped away a tear "But that's not what I wanted to say."

Shocking Beth to death Renee bridged the gap between them in fast strides and took her into a tight hug before letting her go. Looking into the surprised Beth's eyes she whispered fiercely, sincerely "Thank you for watching his back up there. But especially thank you for saving his life. I'll never be able to repay you for what you did."

Even though the prevailing jealous and territorial urge was still to tear out Renee's perfect hair and scratch out her eyes, Beth felt something move in her heart. The woman before her clearly shared her feelings for the man in the bed and of all people Beth knew best the depth of love he could inspire in a woman.

From what Harm had told Skates of how he and Renee had started out, Beth guessed the other woman hadn't been looking for a relationship when she'd started pursuing the handsome pilot, but had been interested in only a fling.

The prospect of having a decorated pilot/lawyer to escort her to all those galas and receptions had probably been the main motive for the movie/commercials director, besides scoring such a gorgeous man. What Renee hadn't counted on was Harm himself. He was just too powerful a personality to allow the woman dating him to keep an emotional distance and independence. It had been just like with Beth and every other woman, as soon as she'd started spending time with him Renee had been hooked. After that it had been no problem of getting even more emotionally bonded to him.

Feeling compassion for Renee because they both knew Harm was too hung up on Mac to give any other woman a commitment, Beth smiled, though tightly, and nodded.

"No problem." she finally replied to Renee's thanks, while on the inside she was brewing.

She cursed Harm for carrying on a relationship with one woman when he was pining for another, but she still knew him well enough to be certain Harm had made sure Renee knew full well what she was getting into and that she knew that for the moment their relationship had no future containing rings and growing to the size of a large house. Not until he let go of Mac and was ready for more with someone else. Beth guessed it was probably that 'for the moment' that was making Renee hold on. And Harm probably didn't break up with Renee because he didn't want to hurt her anymore than he'd already had, not realizing that by not breaking up he was hurting her even more in the long run.

Something he'd told her long ago came to her mind _'Sometimes I don't notice the things I should and I'm pretty oblivious when it comes to women.'_

As one woman had said _' We women many times don't even understand ourselves and each other, how can men, who are a completely opposite gender, even hope of ever understanding us?'_

Saying her goodbyes Beth made an exit as dignified as she could, sighing in relief when she was out of the room.

Next order of business: get dressed in the civvies she'd managed to procure and get the hell out of there. She had an important business she had to fulfill and one she really didn't need to have in her Navy records, especially since if anyone went digging why she'd needed it she'd be in a whole lot of legal trouble.

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Three hours later Beth was standing in the bathroom of a civilian hospital, staring at the pill the doctor had just prescribed at her request. Tilting her head back she swallowed the morning-after pill and exited the small room, determined to get on with her life.

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	6. Chapter 6

Another transcript chapter (understroked text), but unfortunately it's a necessary filler chapter.

As always, my thanks to the lovely people who reviewed, namely **jojobevco, tkdmom51, carolfd, Vesja, just4paws17 **and **Michi uk**.

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Making small talk with CDR Loftness as they made their way to Harm's room they caught sight of the man himself ambling slowly down the corridor ahead of them. Ignoring the strangeness of Harm using a cane Beth called out, speeding up.

"Commander!"

Hearing her Harm turned and smiled in welcome.

"Hey. Wow, you're looking good, Skates."

She barely held in the blush that threatened to creep up her neck even though he hadn't meant it as a compliment, but in regards to her faded bruises "Back atcha, sir."

Then Harm sobered and greeted the man next to her "Commander Loftness."

"Rabb." the chopper pilot returned his greeting.

"Commander, I understand that you personally violated every safety minimum in the book while you were searching for us." Harm's voice was stern, but Beth knew him well enough to catch the gratitude in his words.

"Love flying at 0/0." like any true pilot, Loftness remained unfazed by the reprimand.

Harm finally dropped the act "We owe you our lives."

"Turns out the aircraft we gave you had a hard deck landing. Subsequent inspection uncovered no damage, looks like she was hiding her secrets from us. You ever wanna come back for a visit I'll find you a Tomcat that works."

"Well, how about today? I'm checking out of here in two hours."

Skates chuckled in exasperation, not having expected anything else from her pilot.

"More important."

"Damn."

"Good luck."

They shook hands and Harm asked "That's it?"

"Yup."

They watched the Commander walk away from them, both relieved it wasn't their fault. Slowly, due to the cane, Harm turned to resume his previous walk.

"So... I uh... I understand you jumped my bones in sickbay." he said wonderingly, his head turned towards her as he completed a 120 degree turn.

For a moment Skates felt sick with horror, her face deahtly pale, wondering how he could've found out. She chanced a look at him, hoping to god she wouldn't give away the truth, and sighed in relief when she noticed the mischevious look in his eyes. Since the doctor had promised he wouldn't reveal she'd taken a part time job as a heating blanket and he certainly couldn't have known about what they'd done (at least she dearly hoped so), she decided to stay on the safe side. Better than being stupid and while vehemently denying or trying to justify/defend herself, to blurt out something REALLY incriminating. Plastering on a smile she shot back "Rumor."

"Oh yeah?"

Beth had to remind herself again he didn't know anything, but since he knew her and had a feeling she was hiding something he was fishing, trying to trick her into revealing anything, so she kept silent, hoping he'd drop it.

Just how well she knew him was soon evident as he changed the topic "Well, that was a hell of a ride we took, huh?"

Beth didn't say anything, just walked with him. Unnerved by her silence he continued, trying to get a response from her "At least you went out with a bang..."

Sighing softly she knew it was time she dropped her bomb "I'm returning to the Fleet, Harm."

His gaze looked bewildered "What happened to the idea of shore duty?"

"The experience actually re-awakened my love for ship-board flying. Made me realize the danger is one of the reasons I do it." Beth couldn't believe the bullshit coming out of her mouth. What she could come up with... Just to cover up the fact that she'd gotten cold feet and was running back to the safety of the distance from Harm she was coming up with the most ridiculous filler noises.

"Well... what's your fiancee has to say about this?

"He supports me. Guess that's why he's my fiancee."

Oh, well, what's one more lie in keeping up her cover of being engaged... She wondered how long her nose was by now, what with all the lies she was throwing out. Eighth Circle of Hell, here she comes!

"What about you?"

"Well, I'm almost back to normal."

"Mmmm, you think so?" she questioned, surprised he could be back to normal just a few days after having almost died.

"Well, I certainly have recovered least to the satisfaction of the doctors."

For a moment Beth deliberated whether to ask him if those had been real doctors or just fakes, but there was another thing occupying her thoughts.

"Life doesn't feel any different to you?"

Harm gave her a curious look.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you've been given a chance to take another look at things. To grab hold of what's really important to you."

Would this latest dramatic episode be the decisive push that would finally shove him into Mac's arms? Would the meat-market finally lose one of it's greatest items on sale? Would Beth forever lose any chance of being with him?

"You don't think I've already done that?" The curious look was now turning stern, but it had no effect on her.

"I had." Who was making her say all this crap? Were they completely out of their mind? What she'd just said didn't even make sense!

And why the hell was she speeding up, walking away from Harm?

Shaking her head she stopped and waited for the man in her life, hobbling after her with a confused look on his face.

' You're not the only one who's confused here, buddy.'

Now that they were alone she could fall back on first names again "Come on, Harm, let's get some coffee and wait for Renee to come pick you up."

Harm followed her silently as she turned towards the elevators, keeping her pace slow to adjust for him.

He couldn't identify the cause, but for some reason the thought of Renee and Skates on friendly terms was weird. Nice, but weird.

Aw, hell, maybe he'd just been around only Mac too long and now expected every female friend to be jealous of his girlfriends. Yup, Skates was definitely a whole lot better.

Yet, no matter what he did, as the doors closed after him, he simply couldn't shake the wish it was Beth taking him home, not Renee.

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**Reviews are love, give me lots of love.**


	7. Chapter 7

This is your task for the day: go read harabb1979's amazing fic "**What Should Have Been"**, here (without the spaces): www. fanfiction. net/s/5657106/1/What_Should_Have_Been

And definitely LEAVE A REVIEW, cause only this way can we encourage her to write more.

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Transfer orders to a billet stateside under Admiral Boone's command in her purse and a duffel over her shoulder, Lieutenant Elizabeth "Skates" Hawkes stood in front of a wooden door for good six minutes, psyching herself to finally knock. When she eventually did, it was with a terribly shaking hand and her lower lip under the assult of her teeth, while she was barely fighting back the urge to turn around and run like hell.

But before she could give in to it the door swung open and her pilot stood there "Skates?" he asked surprised, though pleasantly so.

"Hi." she stammered, feeling a bit off-kilter "I need to talk to you. Are you alone or is Renee here?" she tried to look around him, but Harm was blocking all sight.

"Um, no." he replied, still stunned "Renee and I parted ways months ago."

"Oh." Beth replied, not able to mask the guilty relief in her voice. Still, she felt sad for Renee, it had been obvious the other woman had loved Harm, but only later would Skates find out it had actually been Renee who'd ended the relationship.

"What are you doing here?" at her hurt expression he quickly elaborated "I thought you went back to the Fleet, isn't Patrick Henry still on a cruise?"

"Yeah, it is." looking down at her hands she stammered "I was reassigned back stateside, to DC."

"Why? Didn't you say you couldn't give up flying?" Harm frowned in confusion.

"Um." Beth bit her lip "The reassignment wasn't voluntary." she explained cautiously "I didn't really get the choice."

By now Harm's patience with this tip-toeing had run out "What the hell is going on, Skates? And stop beating around the bush, just tell me straight out what happened. Are you in any legal trouble?"

Snorting softly she muttered to herself as she walked into his apartment "Yeah, I'm in trouble all right."

Two yards into the apartment she stopped and turned around, determination, fear and hope shining in her eyes as she stood, feet apart as if standing at ease, her hands clasped together "There's something you should know of, something happened and now... I just... I can't keep it secret and I don't want to act like it didn't happen anymore. It's why I was reassigned."

Harm shut the door, he had the strangest feeling that for this conversation it was better he was sitting.

But when Beth explained why she'd been forcibly removed from the Fleet and assigned a shore-bound billet he realized he should've lied down on the floor instead.

At least that way his shocked fall to the floor wouldn't have been so high.

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	8. Chapter 8

Hm.... It seems I've become too predictable, will have to fix that in the future fics. But I'm still evil...

But in this fic it seemed the only way Beth wouldn't just go on with her life and ignore it had ever happened, because to me she seemed the kind of person strong enough to suppress her feelings to that degree. Considering she put flying before the man she loved and intended to marry in canon...

Thank you for your lovely reviews (I wish my Stargate fics would get such many and such lovely responses, the last chapter for "But sometimes..." has barely gotten any this week even though previous chapters received up to 10 reviews), it's what keeps me going, what keeps me writing.

So, thanks to **jojobevco, Lynnp, just4paws17, Vesja, Michi uk, anon, qqball, Captain J 737 **and **carolfd**, some of whom hadn't been heard of for a while. It's good to know you're still alive and kicking.

I hope you enjoyed this story and this chapter and please let me know what you thought in a review.

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**7 YEARS LATER**

**2200 LOCAL**

**RABB RESIDENCE**

**LONDON, UK**

Two utterly exhausted parents collapsed on the couch in their home after having won the long, tiring battle that is getting small children to bed.

Scooting closer Beth lifted her husband's arm to cuddle into his body, sighing contently as she settled in her favorite spot. Harm lowered his arm around her shoulders and drew her tighter into himself, while his other hand rubbed her belly. Yawning, Beth rubbed her face in his chest, relishing in the scent of him that had become so essential to her emotional stability and well-being over the past 7 years.

"Tired, huh?" Harm asked, receiving only a sleepy grunt from his wife "Want to stay here for a while or go to bed right away?"

"Let's just stay like this for a few more minutes. I'm too tired to get up right now."

"Okay."

They sat in silence for a few more minutes before Harm sighed in exhaustion "They sure are a lot of work."

It was a few minutes before Beth could summon the strength and will to speak "Well, _you're_ the one who wanted to see how many kids we can have."

"I don't remember you disagreeing when I proposed the plan." Harm smirked at her.

Beth rolled her eyes "Yeah, as if I'll ever be able to say no to you when you're doing _that _ to me." Her words were without a sting though, the formerly complaining look replaced by one of amusement and remembered desired at the memory of what exactly they'd been doing and how it had felt "Even with being eight months pregnant and as a big as a whale and just as unsightly, when you paused in doing that and proposed that we'd have a few more kids it seemed like the best idea in the world."

"Do you regret it?"

Beth's eyes softened as she looked at him, rubbing her large belly "No, I don't. You know I don't regret anything of the past 7 years, from the morning-after-pill failing to everything else." Harm grinned "Okay, I do regret one thing."

"What's that?"

Perhaps he was a little too jumpy, since they had as stable a marriage as it could get, but in the time between the night they'd had to bail out and right this moment several of their friends' long-term relationships had fallen apart.

"That I don't remember our first time." And that was truly the only thing she regretted about their relationship, the fact that she couldn't remember the first time they'd made love, the night they'd given life to their oldest son, William.

With 4 kids, 3 of them pre-school, she certainly couldn't claim she had nothing to do and was bored. The two that would be coming in 2 months would keep her busy for a few more years too. When the twins would reach school age she would reactivate her commission and until then she had plenty of side-interests besides the numerous responsibilities she had as the wife of the base CO.

Even though he intellectually knew his own marriage had the most stable basis as it had started in friendship, Harm certainly didn't want Beth to start resenting him for knocking her up in the first place, something that had ended her RIO career for good and sentenced her to shore-duty for the rest of her time in the Navy, and then keeping her more-or-less-constantly pregnant, even though she had agreed to it and was eagerly participating in the process.

He was doing his best to keep her occupied, especially in rewarding social and intellectual pursuits, because he didn't want to go down the same path as some men who's wives ended up divorcing them because they were bored of being home alone all days. Okay, so keeping her pregnant most of the time and making sure she had plenty of kids to look after was just a coincidental part of this plan, but since she had nothing against it and they had more than enough money to support such a large family...

The process of getting her into this blessed state was definitely pleasurable enough and he got a kick from watching her grow big. There was just something so base and primitvely satisfying at watching your woman walk around, knowing there were two people inhabiting her body, knowing that you're the one who made her pregnant, the one to put in motion those irreversible changes a woman goes through when becoming pregnant for the first time. It was the caveman in him, a caveman he wasn't ashamed of.

The only thing he regretted about it was that she'd lost her pre-pregnancy bone structure and figure. Still, she was happy, didn't have time to get bored and this way they wouldn't be following their friends' examples...

In 2003 Chegwidden had gotten engaged and then ended his engagement with some teacher on the grounds of her infidelity (though that infidelity was something Harm had foretold long before it had happened, what with that woman's unstable and flighty personality, coupled with an obssession for all things Italian). Withins months after that the old man had retired and disappeared from their lives, no doubt still as bitter as he always was.

Another non-surprise: Mac had gotten married and divorced twice in this time. The only surprise was that both husbands lived, for once, for now she'd murdered neither of them. Then in 2005, while still married, she'd started an affair with a junior officer, one LT Vukovich, the cause for her latest divorce. During the course of her career she'd broken the rules many times, among them having condoned his illegal tactics in court, for which she had been disbarred, demoted to Private and transferred to Iceland where she'd wait out the rest of her 20 as an ordinary soldier, doing the most menial tasks, while Vukovich had been disbarred, demoted to Seaman and dishonorably discharged.

Bud and Harriet were going through some rough times too, things not being made easier with the constant meddling of Bud's father and Harriet's mother and their kids' spoiledness coming through. Little AJ was still throwing temper tantrums whenever he felt like he wasn't getting enough attention, and Jimmy was following his older brother's example. Together with Bud's floundering career, following Harriet's decision that he shouldn't take Harm's offer for transferring under Rabb's command, their marriage and family was creaking and stress lines were starting to show up allover it's superstructure.

Sturgis and his singer-lady had broken up too, Harm and Keeter suspected the cause was the mile long yardarm up Turner's butt. After the way Sturgis had tried to string Harm up without even giving him the benefit of trust and doubt, Harm didn't feel very much sorry for his old friend.

Keeter... well, Keeter was another surprise of the past few years. No, he hadn't caught an STD with his sleeping around, just the opposite, the eternal bachelor who'd claimed bachelorhood was the only way to go and anything else equaled death, was now married and had two kids of his own!

The woman who'd managed to tame that particular wild man was short, but with curves in all the right places, blond, from Texas and a doctor at Bethesda. They'd gotten to know each other after Keeter's last crash, she'd namely been a candy striper back then. Even though Keeter still claimed the crash during which he'd almost died had opened his eyes, Harm suspected Keeter's decision to hang up his wings and leave the Agency to lecture Aeronautical Engineering at Annapolis had been inspired by the bewitching eyes of one Melissa Warden. Harm got a lot of wicked pleasure out of teasing Keeter about robbing the craddle. 16 months after Keeter had fully recovered and asked Mel out the two were married and 36 months after Keeter's crash Melissa Keeter had given birth to their firstborn, whom they'd named Ryan, with Mark following one year later. After that they'd decided two kids were enough.

Surprising (or not, considering how few settled couples Keeter knew) Harm and Beth were the kids' godparents, completing this weird chain of events that had spanned from their aborted flight home all those years ago to the present.

At times, late at night when everyone else was already asleep, Harm wondered how different all their lives would've been had nature not taken control of him and Skates in their sleep, having them make love to each other and conceive their first child, to then even weaken the morning after pill to beat the unfavorable odds, but then always ended up deciding musing on things he couldn't change was a waste of time.

Besides, he was pretty happy with how everything had turned out.

And to think... all of this had happened only because Beth had done her utmost to save her team-mate by sharing her body heat with him.

Yep, 36.8 definitely had a whole new meaning for Harm now.

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